Author Archives: OCP

In the fall of 2015, our founder and director, Fr. Silouan (Brown) began thinking of ways that he could personally help the different Orthodox missions in Africa. He soon realized that many scams were operating out of that area, and it was difficult – if not impossible – for the average person to know which cries for help were legitimate and which were not.

It was in light of this realization that Fr. Silouan decided to contact an Orthodox mission in Kenya which had been previously visited by another Orthodox missionary. But what could he do to help?

Fr. Silouan knew he did not have the money to help personally, but he realized that, being in the United States, we are uniquely blessed to have certain resources that are not always readily available in Kenya: Computers, internet access, and other technological tools to help raise awareness for the missions in Africa.

Fr. Silouan decided that the best way he could help the missions was to help them tell their stories to the world by building a simple website. So he got together with a small team of volunteers, and the original Orthodox Africa website was built.

In the intervening year, the organization has grown beyond Fr. Silouan’s wildest dreams.

Fr. Silouan has traveled to Kenya and seen the baptisms of dozens of faithful children and adults, met with priests and their wives, given catechetical talks to children, assisted with feeding programs, and been part of the lives of these missions.

The African missions have solidified into a team in Kenya with a board of directors, and the American volunteers have increased and also solidified into a team led by a board of directors.

Orthodox Africa, USA is currently seeking to incorporate as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization by early 2017.

Currently, we support three missions in Kenya: St. Barnabas Orphanage and School, St. Irene Orthodox Mission Center, and St. Tabitha House (Orphanage). It is our goal to help them achieve long-term sustainability in their missions.

It is the unfortunate truth that in the modern day the Oriental Orthodox Churches have proven permeable (to one degree or another, depending upon the jurisdiction) to the influence of heterodox pop culture of the Evangelical and Charismatic variety. In most cases, this influence manifests itself as the singing of Christian Contemporary Music – or so-called “Praise & Worship” – another term for vapid pop songs with a pseudo-Christian veneer – at youth retreats and related meetings. At other times, it takes the form of heterodox materials used in the educational curricula of certain parishes, or even entire dioceses. Sadly, in a handful of Coptic parishes, heterodox music has even found its way into the Divine Liturgy, sung after Psalm 150 when the faithful process to the chalice to receive Holy Communion.

In the hopes of addressing this creeping influence through prayer, advocacy and education, a number of concerned laity and clergy from a variety of nations joined together in the summer of 2013 to form the Fellowship of St. Jacob Baradaeus, a pan-Oriental Orthodox effort, for the purposes of, “Upholding the Orthodox Faith and Orthodox practice to the absolute exclusion of heterodox influence in the Oriental Orthodox Communion”. From the official website of the Fellowship, returntoorthodoxy.com:

“The St. Jacob Baradaeus Orthodox Christian Fellowship is a network of Coptic, Malankara-Syriac, Syriac, Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Armenian Orthodox priests, deacons, and lay-servants from several nations (including the UK, Canada, Sweden, India, Australia, and the USA) operating under the authority of their bishops to uphold the Orthodox Faith and Orthodox practice and to halt and reverse the spread of heterodox theology and forms of worship in the Oriental Orthodox Church.

This fellowship has placed itself under the patronage of the great St. Jacob Baradaeus as he is a pan-Oriental Orthodox father who strove against the corruption and annihilation of Orthodoxy in his own era and suffered much hardship for his efforts. St. Jacob was ordained by an international coalition of Oriental Orthodox bishops at the behest of the Empress St. Theodora and his ministry touched every family of the Oriental Orthodox Communion. He visited Syria, Armenia, Egypt, and other nations in the Near and Middle East, and some accounts even credit him with sending the famous Nine Saints to strengthen Miaphysite Orthodoxy in Ethiopia. May his prayers be with us in our efforts. Amen.”

Oftentimes, those who speak up against heterodoxy and heteropraxis in the Oriental Orthodox Church are villainized as “extremists” by those who for whom such activities have become a crutch – or worse yet – their bread and butter.

The Fellowship of St. Jacob Baradaeus is happy to partner with the Orthodox Cognate Page in the hopes of spreading its word to those determined to resist the spread of this spiritual cancer, and not only provide apologetic and educational resources for them, but more importantly, to let them know that they are neither extremists nor alone.

Holy & Great Monastery of Vatopaidi – The Monastic Republic of Mount Athos

Dear All

Kindly support the Holy & Great Monastery of Vatopaidi. The Monastery has endless demands upon its resources as well as countless souls pleading for spiritual and material support at a time of great difficulty in Greece and neighboring countries. It cannot dedicate resources to its spiritual work at large, including web portal, without your help. Please consider a donation, or if you can, please consider a monthly subscription. This will help us maintain and expand our spiritual service. Please share on Facebook, so that the site may become as widely known as possible.

You can use your credit/debit card or your PayPal account. Alternatively, you can make a donation to one of our bank accounts in Greece and Romania.

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

We bring to light, the unselfish work performed by Father Mark Mwangi & his wife Presbytera Alice Mwangi of Illacit, Kenya. Alone & under poverished conditions they are assisting over 60 orthodox orphaned children in obtaining shelter, healthcare needs, nutrition, education & fulfilling their spiritual needs.

Please take a moment to read the article to see more of the great work that these two Godly servants are doing to help the people of their community.

We invite you to join them in their labor of love.

Saint Philothea Project, a philanthropic nonprofit organization, is collecting contributions & organizing a mission trip to Kenya to assist them in obtaining an education, food & healthcare as well as other basic needs.

Contributions can be made securely & directly through the fundraiser site we have set up. $5 buys 3kg of food & $60 puts a child in school for 1 year. Please give what you can.

Fr Themi, the rock star turned Greek Orthodox Priest appeals to the world to help fight Ebola in the Africa particularly in Sierra Leone where he is working tirelessly among the Ebola affected community through the Orthodox Mission to save lives of thousands of people.

He is taking care of large number of people affected with Ebola crisis. He has been raising funds, distributing health kits, food packages, generating awareness and coordinating volunteers.

Fr Themi and the Orthodox Mission in Sirriea Leone need your prayers, help and support. Let us help Fr Themi to fight this deadly disease. Kindly consider making your valuable donations

Funds are desperately needed by the Holy Orthodox Mission to purchase food and non-prescription medical supplies (gloves, face masks, chlorine disinfectants, etc.). Anyone wishing to assist Father Themi and the Holy Orthodox Mission in Sierra Leone should go to Paradise4kids.com and donate. Every dollar raised helps Father Themi take practical steps to protect people, particularly the less fortunate, from the Ebola threat in Sierra Leone.

At present the Clergy in the mission are making tireless effort to guide the faithful by organizing groups and house visits. The situation of each mission varies according to the areas of operation. Fr. Timothy’s mission is in the mountain were people come from different places who are informal settlers. In the beginning, the Orthodox Priests were accused as a cultic group because of the Black Rasa or Sotana they wore. Fr. Timothy together with Fr. Dcn Joshua and Bro. John and lay worker Mam Maria, has made amazing progress especially changing the mentality approach and attitude of the local people to Orthodox faith. At present the mission is growing with large number of faithful embracing the Orthodox Faith.

Fr. Lawrence is a chaplain of at the National Children’s Hospital, located in E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue of Quezon City. The hospital caters infants to the age of 19 years. He is serving the sick and needy kids on a voluntary basis without any pay. The Hospital is the best Government Hospital for kids and the only Public hospital for children in the Philippines which was erected after the World War II to cater the needs of abandoned and wounded children. Fr. Lawrence also leads another mission with informal settlers (Squatters); serving them with organized house ministry.

Fr. Luke has the biggest mission area with a group of devotees to the holy Theotokos and a mission in mountain part of San Miguel Bulacan or DRT. These missions in the mountain are having many fiathful but has shortage of clergy. This mission in the DRT is a newly opened mission by Fr. Luke with the help of Fr. Lawrence and Fr. Dcn. Melchizedek (transferred to other mission area). The mission teams strongly believes that their team effort to preach Orthodox faith will flourish in the coming years.

The mission needs a church to be built for the faithful to have regular and organized liturgical worship along a place convenient to build a small parsonage for a Priest to have his continued presence in the mission area. Orthodox liturgy and prayers are now held at the residence of the faithful or in open space and sometimes at temporary built sheds .

May God send good heart to help build a church for this mission, and the mission team request your humble prayers for them, unworthy servants of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Philippines.

For more Info in sharing/donating for the building of the Church and its mission, please contact:

Belorussian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate

Saint Elisabeth Convent was founded in 1999 in Minsk, Belarus and was named in honour of Holy Martyr Grand Princess Saint Elisabeth. The sisters of Saint Elisabeth Convent have been rendering spiritual, social and financial assistance to the sick and the suffering at the National Psychiatric Clinic, the boarding home for children with special needs, the boarding home for mentally challenged adults, the rehab centre for drug and alcohol addicts, the municipal hospital and tuberculosis clinic for more than 15 years.

There are over 2,000 patients in 37 units of the National Psychiatric Clinic. Our sisters regularly visit these hospital units acknowledging the importance of giving these sick people spiritual support and consolation. There are 125 young patients in the boarding home for children with special needs who require constant care. Sisters help them with medicines, hygiene kits, wheelchairs, computers and food. They make embroidery and handicrafts, draw pictures together with the children and take care of bedridden patients.

St Elisabeth Convent runs a rehab centre men including the homeless, drug and alcohol addicts, ex-prisoners and those who are unable to live in society. Over 170 residents live there today.

The convent also runs a female rehabilitation facility which was established in 2012. Women released from jail, the homeless and mentally challenged stay there. Today there are 20 women and one toddler at this farmstead. They perform various tasks depending on the strength and ability of each woman: they work in the kitchen, in the field, take care of domestic animals and make handicrafts.

The Community of St Elisabeth is also in the process of constructing of a new wooden church in honour of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco currently being built on the premises of National Psychiatric Clinic. The church is important to those who undergo treatment in the psychiatric hospital. As soon as the church is finished the divine services will be held on a regular basis and the patients of the hospital will be able to confess and take communion.

To support and develop the above ministries, more than twenty workshops and studios operate within the frameworks of the convent. Among them are an icon-painting workshop, ceramics workshop, sewing and gold embroidery workshops, icon setting, and mosaic workshop, wood-carving and non-ferrous workshops, candle workshop and a publishing house. The sisters and those who work in St Elisabeth Convent produce beautiful articles with love and prayer in the convent’s workshops.

Anyone willing to support the ministry of St Elisabeth Convent could do so by making a donation:

By Solomon Mengist (OCP Special Correspondent in Ethiopia) Photo courtesy: Stalin Gebre-Selassie 13/7/2012 His Holiness Abouna Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, celebrates 20th anniversary of enthronement as patriarch of the church on Thursday (July 12) Leaders of sisterly churches, government officials, members of the diplomatic community and invited dignitaries were part of the event, which took place at the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Tanjug 12/7/2012 BELGRADE — Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej called for unity among Serbs, adding that the Church (SPC) would never agree or come to terms with Kosovo “being given away”. rinej called on the people to be united in politics and everything else, because the Serbs are a small people and the only way to survive was through unity and some values the world would understand and support

SYOSSET, NY [OCA] 11/7/2012 On Tuesday evening, July 10, 2012, members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, officers of the Church, and members of the Metropolitan Council met via conference call to discuss the recent resignation of Metropolitan Jonah. His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel, Locum Tenens, chaired the conference call, in which most members of the Holy Synod participated. Also participating in the meeting were General Counsel Thaddeus Wojcik and Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky.

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Welcome to OCP Media Network® – the world’s largest Pan-Orthodox Christian Web Portal since 2007. OCP Media Network® comprehends International Pan-Orthodox Christian Resources. Operated by the Department of Public Relations of the Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE ®, the OCP Media Network consist of news, articles, documents, faith-oriented resources, and multimedia. Visit us for the latest updates from Orthodox Churches around the globe. To learn more on Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE, kindly visit the society section.